


those left behind

by emavee



Series: Whumptober 2020 [19]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Magic, but not a ton, hurt with some comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:09:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27115184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emavee/pseuds/emavee
Summary: “I am getting Richard back,” Damian says. “You can’t stop me, so do not even bother.”Whumptober Day 15: magical healing
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson
Series: Whumptober 2020 [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948276
Comments: 8
Kudos: 153





	those left behind

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to [it's not fair to have to lose you twice](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27021217%5D)

They buried Dick four and a half weeks after his death as Nightwing.

In those four and half weeks, Tim has swung violently back and forth between wanting nothing more than the comfort of the Manor, of home, and being unable to stand another moment there, skin itching and burning and everything feeling so  _ wrong. _ He spends a few days at the Manor watching Alfred try to coax Bruce out of his study or the Cave before he leaves to hole himself up in his own apartment until he can’t stand it anymore and goes back. The pattern repeats, on and on, back and forth. Nothing feels comfortable or right anymore.

He saw Jason once, the day after Dick died but didn’t see him again until the funeral. Cass has practically disappeared; Tim isn’t even sure where she is most of the time, although on one occasion she found him in the kitchen at 4:00 a.m. and hugged him until things actually felt almost okay for a little while.

He sees Damian whenever he’s there, but mostly because he knows where to find him. Alfred forced him back into something resembling a normal schedule, but Damian is stubborn and his grief leads him to a near-silent rebellion. For once though Tim doesn’t think he even means to be difficult. He knows how hard it must be just for Damian to force himself to eat breakfast or do his homework or train. 

When he’s not watching a scarily-silent zombie Damian go through the motions, he can find him in Dick’s room, looking way too small curled up on his bed.

At least, for a while he could. Now, since the funeral, it’s gotten a bit harder to pin Damian down. He’s only around when he has to be, disappearing whenever he’s dismissed. The rest of the family must think he’s still up moping in Dick’s room, but he’s not. Tim has gone in multiple times (not to check on Damian. Really. He isn’t.) to steal one of Dick’s sweaters or something, and Damian isn’t hiding there anymore. It’s not a great sign.

He tries not to worry about it too much, but surprisingly, it turns out to be an impossible task. Tim still remembers watching Damian’s face crumble as he realized that Dick really was dead. He’s just a kid, small and scared and confused, and the person who raised him for a whole year, who was pretty much the first person to trust him, to care for him, to love him is just gone. He really, really shouldn’t be alone. 

* * *

Damian isn’t in his own room or in Dick’s. He’s not in the Cave, or the library or the gym. 

Where Tim does eventually find him, and really he should have looked there sooner, is in the private cemetery plot, sitting cross-legged in front of Dick’s new headstone. Well, at least this means that the kid has finally accepted Dick’s death. 

Damian has an open backpack sitting next to him and a book open on his lap. The sight twists something in Tim’s chest as he watches Damian turn the pages in silence, stopping every now and then to make notes on whatever he’s reading. He’s just… sitting there, spending time with Dick in the setting sun.

Despite how lost he feels, how completely out of his depth he is, Tim approaches, albeit with caution. 

“Hey, Damian,” he calls, although he knows Damian spotted him a while ago.

“Drake,” Damian acknowledges. He turns the page.

Tim squats down next to him. “You should probably head back in soon. Dinner’s probably almost ready.” It feels weird, talking to Damian like he’s a normal kid and not a tiny, prickly former assassin who’s insulted Tim at every turn and tried to kill him multiple times. Still though, he feels like he at least owes it to Dick to try. Especially since it seems like Bruce is really coming up short on the Damian front.

“I am busy,” Damian says coolly. “You may leave.”

Tim frowns, but doesn’t argue. Instead he sits down on the cool dirt, careful to leave a decent pocket of space between himself and Damian. Save for that weird night they spent holding hands (which they haven’t talked about once and Tim absolutely does not want to), he’s never really been this close to Damian before. It’s hard to fight the urge to stay out of stabbing distance.

“You mind if I sit with you then?” he asks. “I haven’t visited in a while.”

To his surprise, Damian shrugs. “Do whatever you like, Drake. Soon it will not matter.”

Tim’s frown deepens, not liking that ominous statement at all. “What does that mean?”

“Just that once I am done here, you will no longer have to mourn. I am fixing things.”

“Damian, what the hell does that mean? What did you do?”

“I am getting Richard back,” Damian says without looking up from the book on his lap. “You can’t stop me, so do not even bother.”

Tim blinks, his brain shorting out. Dick. Back. He’s… Damian is… Getting Dick back? 

Oh. Oh no. Of course that’s where the kid’s head went. Damn it. 

“Damian,” he says slowly. His mouth feels dry. There’s nothing he wants more than to have Dick back, but at the same time… “You can’t use the pit,” he says, trying for something gentle but definitely failing. “Dick didn’t want that. You can’t do that to him. We have to respect that.”

Damian rolls his eyes and Tim feels anger surge up his spine. “Of course not, Drake. I know what the pit can do. I understand why Richard would refuse. But I have found another way, one that will bring him back without all the consequences that the pit carries.”

Tim's whole brain just might short circuit completely at this point. “Where did you even find that?”

“The League has a few resources that even Father lacks,” he says simply, as if that just explained everything. It’s not as if Damian was on particularly good terms with the League of Assassins. Then again, what did Tim really know about the brat’s life? 

“When?” he asks. He feels almost lightheaded.

Damian smirks, the first one Tim has seen in weeks. The first one that hasn’t made him want to smack the kid across the face.

“What do you think I’m doing out here, Drake? Talking to the air?”

"You mean you're trying to bring Dick back _right_ _now?_ "

"Yes." He hesitates for just a moment. "If you would like, you may stay. I do not need your assistance, but it might be nice to not have to dig down to Richard all on my own."

"Do we... Should we dig now?" Is this really happening? Are they really doing this?

"No," Damian replies. "There is a delay. We should dig him up after the spell has been completed."

Tim just nods dumbly, feeling numb. This is crazy. This can't be real, can it?

But Damian seems so sure, so determined. So much more... alive than he has been since Dick died. This is crazy, sure, but crazier things have happened to them.

Grinning like an idiot, Tim watches as Damian finishes his preparations. 

He can't wait to see Dick again. 

* * *

  
  
Tim flips through the pages of the spellbook as he waits. The process is almost done. Just a few more steps and they’ll have Dick back. The thought makes him giddy, unable to stop the smile that spreads across his face. God, he’s missed Dick so much.

Damian took extensive notes, he’s clearly been planning this for a while. Why hadn’t Tim thought of looking for alternatives? Dick had always been opposed to the pit, but that wasn’t the only way. Dick hadn’t been ready to die, and the rest of them weren’t ready to let him go. 

It’s a day of shocking revelations as Tim finds himself  _ thankful _ for Damian.

He leafs through the pages, knowing that Damian would have put all of his effort into making sure he got this right but still being curious all the same. Plus, it can’t hurt to know more about the spell that is supposedly going to bring his big brother back to life.

His blood suddenly runs cold, and in an instant Tim is up, lunging across the space between them to grab Damian, messing up the symbols and dragging Damian back away from the grave.

“No!” Damian screams, kicking at his legs and smacking at the arms holding him back. Tim winces but refuses to budge, just keeps pulling them farther and farther away. “Let me go, you imbecile! I need to finish the ritual!”

“You can’t,” Tim says. God, he was so stupid. He should have known better, but he was blinded by his desire to get his brother back. “The spell has a price. All of Dick’s injuries, they’ll be transferred to you.”

“I know that!” Damian snaps. “I am not stupid, Drake. Now let me go!”

Tim tightens his arms. “No, no. You can’t do this, Damian. You’ll die.”

“I don’t care!” he howls. “It will be worth it. Richard will be alive!”

“No,” Tim finds himself saying, words babbling. “No, it won’t be worth it. Not only would Dick kill me but…” He swallows hard around the cold fear. “But I don’t want to lose you either. I—I don’t want to. I can’t.”

And amazingly, he finds it’s true. Damian is a brat, a major pain in the ass, not to mention the fact that he’s literally tried to kill Tim multiple times, but Tim can’t stand the thought of him dying. He’s not quite sure that he  _ likes _ Damian, but he knows he loves him. 

This is his little brother. He’s not going to let Damian trade away his life, not even for Dick. Tim is never losing another brother again. 

“Please,” Damian whispers. “Let go. I… I need to…  _ Richard… _ ” 

“I’m so sorry, Damian,” he murmurs. Damian has mostly stopped struggling now, and he goes completely limp when Tim reaches up to tuck his head under his chin. Damian presses closer, sobbing, and Tim holds him, holds him the same way Dick always held them, holds him like a big brother.

“Why would you stop me?” Damian asks, nose digging into Tim’s collarbone. “Yes, I may have died but you would get Richard back in my place. Is that… is that not a worthy trade?”

“No,” Tim says, shaking his head. “It’s not. You’re my brother just as much as Dick is. And you have a whole life in front of you. You’ve come so far, Damian. I know Dick was so proud of you. He would want you to keep making him proud.”

“He cannot be proud of me if he’s dead, Drake.”

“He definitely can. He’s always proud of you, no matter what. And I know you’d do anything for him, so you have to live your life, because that’s what he would really want.”

“Let me go,” Damian says again, but Tim can tell his heart isn’t in it. He sags against Tim’s chest until Tim is the only thing holding him upright. 

“No,” Tim whispers, shaking his head. Damian sobs, and Tim’s own tears run down his cheeks, dripping into the hair at the crown of Damian’s head. “He loved you so much, Damian. He would want you to live.”

They sink to their knees together, cold wet dirt soaking through Tim’s jeans. He stares at Dick’s headstone over Damian’s head.

His family keeps getting smaller and smaller, people ripped away from him long before he’s even remotely ready to say goodbye. He has to hold on to the people he still has left, and that includes Damian.

_ I’ll look out for him, _ he promises Dick.  _ I promise. _

**Author's Note:**

> this is less magical healing and more attempted necromancy but oh well


End file.
